Gaza Strip (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – A relentless Israeli military campaign, in response to deadly Hamas attacks on October 7, has upset the lives of most, if not all, residents of the Gaza Strip.
Issued on: 24/12/2023 -
Eleven weeks of war have killed thousands in Gaza and displaced the vast majority of its inhabitants, officials say
Israeli forces have launched a bombardment campaign and ground invasion of Gaza ever since Hamas militants launched their shock attack -- the deadliest in Israel's 75-year history.
It killed about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 20,258 people in the besieged Palestinian territory, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
The United Nations estimates the fighting has displaced 1.9 million of Gaza's 2.4 million population.
AFP spoke to three Palestinian women who shared how the conflict has upended their lives.
It killed about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 20,258 people in the besieged Palestinian territory, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
The United Nations estimates the fighting has displaced 1.9 million of Gaza's 2.4 million population.
AFP spoke to three Palestinian women who shared how the conflict has upended their lives.
Nour al-Wahidi, 24, medical intern
Wearing a stethoscope around her neck, Wahidi recalled spending 38 consecutive days treating patients in terrible conditions at Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital, which has been raided by Israeli forces.
"I worked through moments of escalation these past two years, but everything about this war is different: the length, the death toll, the severity of injuries, the displacement," she said.
For a month now Wahidi has been sharing an apartment with 20 members of her extended family, having been displaced twice since the war broke out.
The medical intern is working in the emergency ward of the Kuwaiti hospital in Rafah, in the besieged territory's south.
"Every day, I come across suffering that I never thought I would see," she said.
Some of her relatives took shelter at a school run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, while others remained in Gaza.
Wahidi has lost all contact with those who stayed behind in Gaza City because the grid is often down and communications frequently cut.
"Before, I was home with everything I needed. Now I'm in this strange place, without water or food," she said.
"The situation is catastrophic."
She also warned that "there's been a rapid spread of disease".
Still, she tries to make do by telling herself that others have it even worse.
"After work, I can go home, I can cook and light a fire. I wash my hands when there's water," she said, counting her blessings.
"We've had to consider water and food supplies, and how to charge our phones -- things we never thought about before," she added.
"No one deserves to live like this."
Sondos al-Bayed, 32, housewife
Bayed hails from Gaza City but is now living in a tent outside the Kuwaiti hospital in Rafah.
She shares the space with her journalist husband and three children.
"Our life has been turned upside down. It's been a total 180," she said.
Her family has been forced to move multiple times since leaving Gaza City.
They first fled south towards the central city of Deir al-Balah. However, the homeowners who took them in soon asked them to leave.
It was "out of fear that journalists would be targeted" by Israeli strikes, Bayed told AFP.
"I cried so much... I didn't know what to do," she said.
They set off again for Khan Yunis, in the south, but their plans were thwarted once again. The Israeli army issued an evacuation order for those in the area, sending them further south near the border with Egypt.
With what little food she can find, Bayed prepares meals for her children but they refuse to eat: "The food's bad and expired."
Life has become "hard, like being separated from family, as are the memories", Bayed said.
"We were happy before and had a stable life. We dreamt of building a bigger house. I want (that life) back."
Lynn Ruk, 17, student
Ruk lives in a makeshift camp in Rafah along with her parents, brother, four sisters and niece.
"My life used to be so boring, I'd complain. The war changed everything," she said.
Her family left their home in Khan Yunis the day after the war erupted.
"We took a photo of the house, in tears," Ruk said.
They briefly stayed with one of her sisters. When it became too dangerous there, they left for the city's Nasser hospital, before winding up in Rafah.
"I thought we'd go home after a week. It's been more than 70 days now and we're still not back," she said.
The teenager said she has lost seven kilos (15 pounds) since the war began. She has fallen sick several times and was even taken to the emergency room after fainting.
Today, her meals mainly consist of canned food, with only the occasional piece of bread.
"I never thought my life would look like this... Before the war, I showered every day," she said.
"Now, if I'm lucky, I'll wash at the mosque once a week, at sinks reserved for performing one's ablutions -- if there's any water," she added.
Ruk is afraid for the lives of her friends, and her own.
She aspires to be a journalist and hopes to be able to travel abroad to make her dream come true.
"I wish I could go back to the life I had before, the one I didn't like," she said.
© 2023 AFP
Gripped by hunger, Gazans queue for meagre food
Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – When Bakr al-Naji realises the meals he prepares each day for a charity in the Gaza Strip won't be sufficient to fill the stomachs of the children, his heart sinks.
Issued on: 23/12/2023 -
In Rafah, a city at the southern end of Gaza, thousands of people queue up for a little food at the Tkiyeh centre, said Naji.
The 28-year-old was displaced from Gaza City, but volunteers to cook for those facing the same circumstances.
"The most difficult moment, for me, is when I hand out the meals," he told AFP.
"I feel a pang in my heart when there is no more food and the children complain and say they haven't eaten enough," he said.
Faced with those pleas, most volunteers sacrifice their own meals.
According to UN's hunger monitoring system (IPC) by the start of December more than two million Gazans were already facing acute food insecurity, with more than 378,000 experiencing "catastrophic hunger".
The IPC report on Thursday said that there was a risk of famine which was "increasing each day" and warned that within weeks the entire population will face "acute food insecurity" or worse.
Humanitarian aid is only trickling into the besieged coastal territory, which Israel's army has been pounding since October 7.
The relentless ground and air campaign, aimed at destroying Hamas, was triggered by the Islamist groups' unprecedented attack on Israel in which it killed around 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli figures.
Israel's retaliation has killed more than 20,200 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
In Rafah, people crowded against a barrier separating the crowd from large, steaming pots of food.
Adults and a large number of children were waiting with plastic bowls and small pots.
"Lentils and bulgur wheat have disappeared from the markets, as well as peas and white beans," said Khaled Sheikh al-Eid, an official at the charity which serves around 10,000 people a day.
His centre survives thanks to donations and volunteers and must constantly juggle what few supplies are available.
'Die of hunger'
"A can of beans has gone from one shekel ($ 0.28) to six)," said Naji.
"People were poor before the war, even those who worked had barely enough to feed their children. How can they cope now?" he asked. "I fear that people will die of hunger."
In the morning, Salam Haidar, 36, was queueing outside the food centre.
"They told me that it's too early but I want to be sure that I get something," said the mother of three small children.
"My son cries when he sees another child holding a piece of bread. He tried to steal sweets from another child, I had to tell him it was very bad."
Nur Barbakh, five months pregnant and displaced from Khan Yunis, was also waiting hours before the opening of the centre in Rafah.
"Sometimes I send my 12-year-old eldest son but he gets beaten up. He comes back crying and empty handed," said Barbakh.
"If it wasn't for this centre, we would have nothing at all," she said, holding three tomatoes and two shekels in her hand. "I couldn't find any bread".
"My children have lost a lot of weight, the hunger wakes them up at night," she said, adding that she was considering returning to her home in Khan Yunis, despite it being the centre of fighting between Israel and Hamas.
"It's better to die at home as a martyr than to die of hunger," she said.
© Mahmud HAMS / AFP/Photos
© 2023 AFP
Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – When Bakr al-Naji realises the meals he prepares each day for a charity in the Gaza Strip won't be sufficient to fill the stomachs of the children, his heart sinks.
Issued on: 23/12/2023 -
Many children are among those queueing, desperate for food
In Rafah, a city at the southern end of Gaza, thousands of people queue up for a little food at the Tkiyeh centre, said Naji.
The 28-year-old was displaced from Gaza City, but volunteers to cook for those facing the same circumstances.
"The most difficult moment, for me, is when I hand out the meals," he told AFP.
"I feel a pang in my heart when there is no more food and the children complain and say they haven't eaten enough," he said.
Faced with those pleas, most volunteers sacrifice their own meals.
According to UN's hunger monitoring system (IPC) by the start of December more than two million Gazans were already facing acute food insecurity, with more than 378,000 experiencing "catastrophic hunger".
The IPC report on Thursday said that there was a risk of famine which was "increasing each day" and warned that within weeks the entire population will face "acute food insecurity" or worse.
The food handed out at the centre is barely enough
Humanitarian aid is only trickling into the besieged coastal territory, which Israel's army has been pounding since October 7.
The relentless ground and air campaign, aimed at destroying Hamas, was triggered by the Islamist groups' unprecedented attack on Israel in which it killed around 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli figures.
Israel's retaliation has killed more than 20,200 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
In Rafah, people crowded against a barrier separating the crowd from large, steaming pots of food.
Adults and a large number of children were waiting with plastic bowls and small pots.
"Lentils and bulgur wheat have disappeared from the markets, as well as peas and white beans," said Khaled Sheikh al-Eid, an official at the charity which serves around 10,000 people a day.
His centre survives thanks to donations and volunteers and must constantly juggle what few supplies are available.
'Die of hunger'
"A can of beans has gone from one shekel ($ 0.28) to six)," said Naji.
WAR PROFITEERING
Prices for what food is available have rocketed
"People were poor before the war, even those who worked had barely enough to feed their children. How can they cope now?" he asked. "I fear that people will die of hunger."
In the morning, Salam Haidar, 36, was queueing outside the food centre.
"They told me that it's too early but I want to be sure that I get something," said the mother of three small children.
"My son cries when he sees another child holding a piece of bread. He tried to steal sweets from another child, I had to tell him it was very bad."
Nur Barbakh, five months pregnant and displaced from Khan Yunis, was also waiting hours before the opening of the centre in Rafah.
"Sometimes I send my 12-year-old eldest son but he gets beaten up. He comes back crying and empty handed," said Barbakh.
Being in line is no guarantee of getting food
"If it wasn't for this centre, we would have nothing at all," she said, holding three tomatoes and two shekels in her hand. "I couldn't find any bread".
"My children have lost a lot of weight, the hunger wakes them up at night," she said, adding that she was considering returning to her home in Khan Yunis, despite it being the centre of fighting between Israel and Hamas.
"It's better to die at home as a martyr than to die of hunger," she said.
© Mahmud HAMS / AFP/Photos
© 2023 AFP
No comments:
Post a Comment